Gods of Jade and Shadow is a 2019 historical fantasy novel by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. It was published in July of 2019 by Del Rey Books. The novel was a 2019 Nebula Award Nominee for Best Novel, a 2019 Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Fantasy and a 2020 Locus Award Nominee for Best Fantasy Novel. The novel can be purchased here from Bookshop.org

The Jazz Age is in full swing, but Casiopea Tun is too busy cleaning the floors of her wealthy grandfather's house to listen to any fast tunes. Nevertheless, she dreams of a life far from her dusty small town in southern Mexico. A life she can call her own. Yet this new life seems as distant as the stars, until the day she finds a curious wooden box in her grandfather's room. She opens it—and accidentally frees the spirit of the Mayan god of death, who requests her help in recovering his throne from his treacherous brother. Failure will mean Casiopea's demise, but success could make her dreams come true. In the company of the strangely alluring god and armed with her wits, Casiopea begins an adventure that will take her on a cross-country odyssey from the jungles of Yucatán to the bright lights of Mexico City—and deep into the darkness of the Mayan underworld.

Casiopea was a character who I felt "iffy" about at the start. In the beginning of the novel, I wasn't sure that she was a protagonist I could really connect with. As the story progressed, however, and I got see her out of her comfort zone and dealing with new experiences, I connected with her a lot more strongly than I had expected. I found the inner conflict she was dealing with to be relatable and, while not always entirely complex, she was a sympathetic character. I'm not quite sure how to describe the way I felt about Hun-Kame, the Mayan death god she unleashes and travels with. This is mostly because his behavior varies wildly, due to plot-related reasons, so he doesn't read like a consistent character. He's by far the most complex in the novel, but he's hard to discuss for that reason. It's hard to say anything about the main antagonist, another Mayan deity, because he's never given much depth and his motivations aren't deeply explored. Martin, a secondary antagonist and Casiopea's cousin, was the best-written character in my opinion. When I say that, what I mean is that he was written to come across as selfish, immature and conceited and that's exactly how he's written. The character he is and the character he was supposed to be are one and the same and he was fun to hate.

I loved the world of this book. The story is set in the Jazz Age, which gives a sense of fun and wonder to the overall world. The Jazz Age was also a period of pretty big changes in the world, so it served as a great setting to reflect the possible changes Casiopea's journey might cause, The 1920s is also a time period I don't see shown much in historical fantasy, and it was a welcome change for me. The author did a number of creative and interesting things with Mayan mythology, which serves as the basis for the magic system in the story. As I was reading how the mythology interacted with the world of the early 20th century, I found myself intrigued by how those elements were combined to create a unique and compelling central conflict. I also loved that a major part of the world-building centered around how myths and truths may not be one and the same, as Casiopea learns about Xibalbla, the underworld in Mayan mythology. It added an interesting layer to the story and the dynamics between the human characters and the gods.

While I loved the setting, the mythology and the central conflict the book sets up, the plot itself was a miss for me. Past a certain point in the story, the plot becomes predictable. Since the plot felt predictable, I didn't find myself feeling as invested in the events happening. At the times that I did feel invested, I was invested in certain moments, but as soon as those moments were over, I was no longer gripped by what might happen next. I feel like part of this is due to the pacing of the story. The novel is fairly short, at around 330 pages, and quite a lot happens. This means that the author moves fairly quickly from one event to another, and one location to another, so the reader doesn't really get to "sit" and get a feeling for any place or moment. It kept significant moments from leaving any kind of impression on me. By far, my favorite part of the novel was the final confrontation between Casiopea and her adversaries, because it allowed me to see Xibalbla in its full glory and the climax kept me guessing about how the confrontation would end, but not who would triumph, and the climax did give me a few surprises that I hadn't expected.

I could've done without the romance to be perfectly honest. It felt to me like the romantic undertones came out of nowhere and were unneeded. The story had stakes that were high enough without including a romance between Casiopea and Hun-Kame. The plot had enough going on without it as well. To me, it felt like it did little more than add some extra angst in certain moments. Some readers might like the romantic elements, since its akin to the Hades and Persephone tale, but it fell flat for me.

Gods of Jade and Shadow is a book that I'm of two minds about. On one hand, I thoroughly enjoyed the world of the story and the creativity displayed by the author. The story itself was fun. On the other, the plot was fairly predictable and I didn't feel fully invested in the events that were taking place. The novel makes for an entertaining read, however, and I consider it to be one of those books where I'd say "give it a shot, you might like it" if someone asked about it.

Rating: 2.5 Stars

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